Let's get this party started

Fun Times

Decorating your home for a party can be quite tricky. But with some creative ideas, your interiors can be the talk of the town.

Entertaining guests at home can lead to lots of stress if not planned correctly.

But a party does not need to be perfect all the time. Rather, it should be fun and effortless for both the guests and the hosts. 

A party with fancy décor and seating is not necessarily always enjoyable.

Stick to party basics that suit your personality and style – be it a casual steak party, a breakfast buffet or an elegant outdoor sit-out in the evening!

Another thing about entertaining is that when you typically throw ‘special occasion parties’, you tend to get nervous in the run up to the event. 

There is lots of planning involved, right from remodelling the home to budgeting to menu-deciding and sending out invites on time. 

Regular practice, on the other hand, will help you learn from past mistakes and once you have enough practice, the planning stage starts becoming shorter and less ragged. 

Also, since your house will always have people, it will invite lots of positive energy. Here’s a low-down on how to decorate your home for a summer-time party. 

Location

Selecting the right location is as important as the party itself.

Since this is a house party, you have plenty of options to pick from. But when you do, bear in mind these top four questions — how many guests are you expecting? What is the theme of the party? What is the age group of the attendees? What room is most suitable for the event? 

The answer to all these questions will enable you to make the right choice about your party’s exact location in the house.

Consider outdoor seating if you have a huge backyard space, as cleaning up after the party becomes less hassled. 

Theme

Most parties already have a set theme on account of the occasion, for example, ladies night, birthday party, anniversary celebration or a card party.

But you can style each of these occasions with your personal touch; be it the decorations or the menu or everything in between. 

Entertaining can be casual yet elegant at the same time. Consider the theme ‘four elements table’. This theme is inexpensive and it incorporates the four elements of nature — earth, fire, wind and water.

Most of the materials used in this theme are sourced from home itself.

For air, you can use natural leaves of any shape or colour. Just scatter them horizontally around the centre of your table.

For the water element, you can use any small rock, stone or pebble found in your neighbourhood. Just spread them along the leaves.

For fire, use candles in small glass holders. Tea lights or long white candles will work fine.

For earth, use any wood pallet or even bamboo shoots to decorate the centre of the table. 

Placemats in earthy undertones and a handwritten menu card will add that personal flavour.

Another area to add your personal touch would be to tag every seating area with your guest’s name.

You may also arrange fresh flowers from your own garden in a nice long vase and make it the centrepiece of your table.

The intrinsic presence of fresh flowers or herbs makes the occasion seem more special.

Food usually tastes better on real plates and utensils. So, consider them over plastic ware.

Party décor

You don’t necessarily have to dress your soiree only on the indoors.

Make it more memorable by lighting candles down the walkway, putting up a sign-board outside that tells the guests where the party is or playing with lighting around the entrance to make your guests feel more pepped up, and in the mood for excitement. 

For a sit-down party, your dining space is the focus of décor.

Some great ideas for dining spaces include using your checkered scarf to double as a summertime table-cloth. Or using vertical runners as placemats on the dining table. Bring out your tiered dessert stands and decorate them with fresh flowers.

For a Moroccan-themed party, you can use throws and pillows for floor seating and a carpet underneath the low-lying table.

Use Arabian motifs for your table cloth or runner.

For an outdoor breakfast party, use picnic baskets and floor mats to add interest.  For a

Mexican theme, use bright and bold colours for your table, and they do not even have to match! 

You don’t need expensive bone china for your table.

Start with the basics and dress them up to small details like colourful napkin rings.

A monochromatic colour palette is easy and inviting. Try to use earthy colours for a warm look. Serve condiments out of inexpensive terracotta pots.

If you’re hosting your kids’ birthday party, you may allow him to choose his theme like a favourite cartoon character and incorporate this theme into every area of your décor, right from table cloth to cutlery to balloons and streamers.

Go all out on colour as it generates more interest in bright young minds. 
Don’t let the time of the year or season affect your theme.

Think out of the box.

For instance, in summer, you can treat your kids’ guests to frozen desserts and decorate the area with fake snow for the perfect winter wonderland theme.

You can also create a canopy by hanging a sheet of cloth from four poles and filling up helium balloons and letting them rest under the canopy without strings.

Alternately, create a balloon pit by blowing dozens of balloons together in a boxed up area. Children can walk into the pit and play with these balloons. 

Your party décor is not limited to interiors. You can even decorate your food.

For example, let long lollipops rest against a tall jar or fill up your mason jars or glass plates with sweets and candy and place them on the dinner table.

Use action figures to hold the label of each dish at your kids’ party.

Create artificial flowers with tissue paper and let them stand tall in a long vase. Or make the guests wear these behind their ear for an outdoor party. 

You can even string a garland with flowers and make each guest wear them; else hang these around your room.

For an outdoor party, decorate your lawn with flags cut from colourful fabric.

Lastly, round off your party décor with fairy lights or tea lights or colourful bulbs to suit the theme of your party.